Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

1.16.2010

"the cliffs"

"the cliffs"Jason Farrell being Jason Farrellphoto by Russell Barbara

in my circle of friends growing up there was a period of time when everyone was buzzing about "the cliffs"okay... as I had several circles of friends then as I do now it would more clear to say... in one of my many circles of friends there was a period of time when we were all buzzing about "the cliffs"

"the cliffs" were a big part of our mini fringe Bethesda subculture (which co-existed along side of so many mini-subcultures)I am certain that "the cliffs" exist as a collection of strong memories for many people from this area... many's whose circles came before and after while never intersecting with any of my circlesyet... by a matter of situation and a matter of chance I will take credit for being the spawn of the introduction of "the cliffs" into the hearts and minds of the Bethesda skaters which then filtered on into the DC punk scenenot the genesis of jumping at "the cliffs"but the genesis... of the interest, fascination, and passion of this cliff during this group during this era

as a preteen child I had seen people jump from these cliffs from the perspective of a two man kayakthe site and the sound were invigoratingI heard the sound of the jumpers shouting and I heard the sound of jumpers screamingA few times I was excited to see someone jumping from "the cliffs" but it was more frequent that we only heard the sound when "the cliff" jumper connected the water

even though my dad told me that these people were being stupid and that their actions were dangerousI thought it was cool

on hikes on the billy goat trail I tried to connect the dots where the cliff was from land versus where the cliffs were from waterI found the spot... I knew the paths to get thereI knew the most direct paths and I knew my favorite more technical pathsThe Billy Goat Trail and the C&O Canal were my personal playground growing up

lots of hiking and fishing with family, friends, and aloneon my bicycle I would ride from home to the canalgrowing most familiar with the section around Old Angler's Inn but also having some good memories of riding my bicycle to Swains Lock to either fish or canoe... we did not rent our boats from Swain's a friend of my mother's lived up that way and we would borrow his canoethose were freer times

the canal stayed part of my life, but "the cilffs" did not really enter my curiosity

then years later as a teenager kayaking had pretty much left my life there was one time I joined my brother and some of his friends for a rogue kayaking missionmy brother being the only kayak-er in the bunchI was in one of the two two person boats while my brother paddled around in his singleon this day after some paddling about we stopped at the base of this clifftwo of us scaled the wall of "the cliffs"we each took a few jumps

it was a rush... I was all welled up with fearadrenalin... pure adrenalinit was matter of approaching and over coming fearsit was definitely a rush

it was cool... I had jumped "the cliffs"it just happened that one time with no talk of going backthen... a few years later I was street skating with my friend Lawrence McDonaldwe traversed the area on our skateboards looking for some fast rolling terrain that would give us a rush

from sleepy bethesda to downtown we wentin search of a natural high by riding our skateboards down various hillsno glancing at a map no thought on typographystraight and direct with the ambition of getting to the short narrow brick quarter pipes down by the C&O Canal behind what was then an Open Market but is now Dean and Deluca

Wisconsin Avenue took us downtown...that road alone offered some excitement from the top of Georgetown all the way down to M Streetthen on the way home it was an insane rush riding a skateboard down Wisconsin Avenue past the Animal Hut and the Round Table from Tenleytown to Friendship Heights

it was good clean fun... a tad dangerous... but good clean funone one of these hot summer nights Lawrence talked out loud about where he could fulfill his need to get this "natural high"only "higher"it was then that I remembered "the cliffs"

we talked about the cliffs... Lawrence wanted to go to the cliffs that momentI think we got on our bikes and went out there the next daymaybe I was old enough that we drove in the diesel rabbit that I shared with my brother marc

that particular day happened so fast that its memory is blurred under a stack of so many other memoriesa short time after that we tried to stage a situation where once person fell in and then the other two people jumped in after to save himno one was fooled

lawrence and I went to "the cliffs" bringing with us different people on various tripsafter introducing Lawrence to "the cliffs" the word got outthe already adrenalin b-town skaters jumped on itquickly there became a buzzall sorts of people wanted to go to "the cliffs"they might have well printed up flyers and hung them in The Sunshine House, Montgomery Donuts, and Little Tavernpeople got possessive over the cliffsI can recall friends\musicians Jason and Lawrence each talking about different photo concepts for future records involving "the cliffs"each of them feeling greater ownership over "the cliffs"but... honestly... I never felt that we owned the cliffs... no one owns "the cliffs"I felt that this spot was more than likely a jumping spot for inhabitants of this area for centuries before we ever stumbled upon it

[feel free to insert the Bethesda Sunshine House Native American on horseback with the sunset and the channel which is the Potomac at the base of "the cliffs" that he is standing]it was a healthy adventure that involved hiking, climbing, scrambling, and of course cliff jumpingit was simple and purepotentially dangerous and thought to be frowned upon by "the man"that may have heightened the excitementwhich may have fueled the speed of the approach and departure

swimming in the Potomac and the C&O Canal had been known to be prohibitedthese were laws that never made sense to meI grew up riding my bike to the canal to go fishingthen when I got older we would take our dog swimming therewhen the weather was right... we would swim... it only seemed natural

Wide Water by Old Angler's Inn was a popular place to swimwe would sun ourselves like snakes on the rocks... then swim out to the small rock islands

and then there were "the cliffs"

"the cliffs"getting to the cliffs was one of those "the journey is the destination" sort of experiencesrunning and racing along The Billy Goat Trail was as much a part of the experience as jumping into the Potomac river

or at least for me... there were countless trips to "the cliffs" that did not involve me or my knowingwho went? I am not sure if it was a Bethesda version of that shampoo commercial where the women tells two friends... and so on... and so on... and so onit more than likely... I will share this with you... but try to keep it a bit of a secret

the Bethesda skate crew that surrounded Marcus Wilcoxon and Jason Farrell and such latched onto "the cliffs"large groups... well... groups larger than the usual three or four people... large groups of B-town skaters and their surrounding friends would rush out to the cliffs and attack things with the same competitive energy that they attacked the rampto me... it was about jumpingthese guys... everyone was trying to outdo the others

backflips... ganors... diving... and then even swimming across the Potomac to the Virginia side where they scaled the wall to a point on the cliff where the numbers 69 is painted... and then they jumped from therethey definitely took things beyond what I had experienced at "the cliffs"these cliffs sent them to Dickerson's Quarry where they made similar approaches to an even higher set of cliffs

it was not confirmed... but it was understood that these actions were not legalthis did not dissuade anyone from taking partbut... the thought that these actions may be illegal may have contributed to the intensity of the approach and the departureno one wanted to get bustedno one even wanted to get into the conversation

it is best to avoid the conversation

usually we would arrive at the cliffs and we would have them to ourselveson a few random occasions there would be an overlap of people taking on "the cliffs"

this was not a "boy only" activity... I can remember bringing an assortment of female friendsand seeing other women or knowing of other women who went to "the cliffs"I think there may have been one case where a women had a ticket dropped under the premise that she was discriminated against as the only woman and the only person who got a ticketor something to that effect

never on any of these adventures did anyone get seriously hurt... sure... my friend named Bridget got the wind knocked out of her... then Charlie a guy from Apple Courier told me he collapsed a lung landing wrong... another time I was trying an "one and a half" off a lower ledge and managed a one and a belly flop... but across the board... it was pretty controlled and pretty safeit was not some point of no returnit was pretty much good clean fun

we never got in any troublewe actually most of us never made contact with any rangers or park policebut legend and lore contains multiple tales of tickets and court dates

this was supposed to be a discussion about the law and totalitarianismbut the intro took over everythingthere is not time... energy... or concern to try and get that diatribe out on the blog

the effort to protect us from ourselvesit is interesting how the Park Police can be so vigilant about some issues and slack about othersokay... yes... a mention of the lawlessness of the carthe bending... versus breaking of the lawthe accepted parameters of flexing the law

come on... no frisbee on the beach? no football tossing on the beach?I guess that they could not trust people to make the right decisionto understand that it is too crowded or that they could not keep it in controlso... they ban it and make it illegalinstead of expecting people to be safe and smart enough to exhibit some common sense and common courtesy

ice skating on the canal has a "play at own risk" label to itbut so does life in general

I bet Hound-dog has so much shit on video that he could build an epic film like Spartacus or Ben Hur

this morning I got a number of comments about posts that made mention of a skateboard team from the area know as THE TOKE TEAMsince I was hardly a skater and definitely not a vert skater my documentation from the sideline may be a tad offhere are some previous posts on THE TOKE TEAMdecadent versus the B-Town squeaky cleanGwadzilla Search for TOKE TEAM

Great story, Joel! Makes my heart race just reading this. Summer, driving out MacArthur blvd with rites of spring tape playing. We wore that place (and that tape) out. love/miss the potomac.

Note: 1) Jen Ballard was that lone girl in one of those too-large groups who got collard due to her huge tattoo being so visible/recognizable from the rangers mount across the river. This was 94-ish, when rangers really cracked down, dressing like hikers but wearing earpieces (judge threw it out). 2) b-town boys already knew Dickerson and (the far cleaner/taller) bakerton quarries from Marcus' west Virginia weekend river house. 4th or 5th grade. Cliff jumping was already on our mind... Tho we were very psyched to be shown one so close to home.

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